Elizabeth Browning Sonnets From the Portuguese- Sonnet # 6
I think it is very hard to think about “love poetry” as something that is strictly classified as so. I say this because much of the love poetry that we are reading in this class deals with other topics such as death, fidelity, faith, etc. In Browning’s Sonnets from the Portuguese, we get to see a glimpse of her private life and the development of her relationship with her husband. In sonnet # 6, the speaker commands her speaker to go away from her, maybe because she is not fit for his status. Nonetheless, the speaker declares that even after he leaves, her lover’s shadow and presence will remain with her and affect everything that she does or dream of. She says, “What I do/And what I dream include thee, as the wine/ Must taste of its own grapes”. In other words, her soul is made of his love. She also assures her lover that no matter how far away they might be, their hearts will always be together.
Go from me. Yet I feel that I shall stand
Henceforward in thy shadow. Nevermore
Alone upon the threshold of my door
Of individual life, I shall command
The uses of my soul, nor lift my hand
Serenely in the sunshine as before,
Without the sense of that which I forebore---
Thy touch upon the palm. The widest land
Doom takes to part us, leaves thy heart in mine
With pulses that beat double. What I do
And what I dream include thee, as the wine
Must taste of its own grapes. And when I sue
God for myself, He hears that name of thine,
And sees within my eyes the tears of two.
Although the sonnet starts with a call to her lover to leave her, the speaker assures him that their love is strong and inseparable. I personally like teaching this sonnet and other “love poetry” because students find it more interesting that other poetry with different themes. Students are usually at an age when love occupies much of their thoughts and they find such poetry relevant to their life. I also enjoy the intersection of love poetry with other themes such as religious and political poetry. In this sonnet, for example, Browning starts by hinting at a social issue. She says that her status might be unfit for her husband’s high status.
Aishah Alreshoud
Love Poetry
Elizabeth Browning Sonnets From the Portuguese- Sonnet # 6
I think it is very hard to think about “love poetry” as something that is strictly classified as so. I say this because much of the love poetry that we are reading in this class deals with other topics such as death, fidelity, faith, etc. In Browning’s Sonnets from the Portuguese, we get to see a glimpse of her private life and the development of her relationship with her husband. In sonnet # 6, the speaker commands her speaker to go away from her, maybe because she is not fit for his status. Nonetheless, the speaker declares that even after he leaves, her lover’s shadow and presence will remain with her and affect everything that she does or dream of. She says, “What I do/And what I dream include thee, as the wine/ Must taste of its own grapes”. In other words, her soul is made of his love. She also assures her lover that no matter how far away they might be, their hearts will always be together.
Go from me. Yet I feel that I shall stand
Henceforward in thy shadow. Nevermore
Alone upon the threshold of my door
Of individual life, I shall command
The uses of my soul, nor lift my hand
Serenely in the sunshine as before,
Without the sense of that which I forebore---
Thy touch upon the palm. The widest land
Doom takes to part us, leaves thy heart in mine
With pulses that beat double. What I do
And what I dream include thee, as the wine
Must taste of its own grapes. And when I sue
God for myself, He hears that name of thine,
And sees within my eyes the tears of two.
Although the sonnet starts with a call to her lover to leave her, the speaker assures him that their love is strong and inseparable. I personally like teaching this sonnet and other “love poetry” because students find it more interesting that other poetry with different themes. Students are usually at an age when love occupies much of their thoughts and they find such poetry relevant to their life. I also enjoy the intersection of love poetry with other themes such as religious and political poetry. In this sonnet, for example, Browning starts by hinting at a social issue. She says that her status might be unfit for her husband’s high status.